sunset from behind the wire

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Osen-Hunter Group is a global, private security company that issues daily intelligence assessments, similar to the intelligence services of the popular STRATFOR service. Today's analysis concluded with an assessment worth consideration:

Assessment: Just as a strike against an American ship in the Suez would double the value for AL QAEDA, we would warn that Mombasa is a port of concern, given its proximity to southern Somalia where AL SHABAAB is strongest and where piracy contacts in the Kenyan port authority are ample. Inasmuch as this represents a second reference to ships at sea – unprecedented in a single AL QAEDA statement – we make the following, unequivocal judgment:

We assess a direct, grave threat, by AL QAEDA, against U.S. Navy warships and U.S.-flagged vessels. Moreover, if U.S.-flagged merchantmen are still steaming anywhere in the U.S. FIFTH FLEET Area of Responsibility without armed security, they do so now at a considerably elevated risk.

In this connection, we should also note a reference to the Fort Hood massacre and a call to Muslims “in the Crusader armies” and “agent governments” to replicate the 5 November killings at Fort Hood. We would interpret this as a call on sufficiently radicalized sailors to sabotage warships. They come to this conclusion based on an observation that I do think is certainly noteworthy. On December 27th, Al Qaeda in Yemen (AQIY) responded to airstrikes in the eastern province of Shabwa conducted by Yemen air force with new threats.

“And lastly, we call upon the proud tribes of Yemen—people of support and victory—and the people of the Arabian Peninsula, to face the crusader campaign and their cooperatives on the peninsula of Muhammad, prayer and peace upon him, and that’s through attacking their military bases, intelligence embassies, and their fleets that exist on the water and land of the Arabian Peninsula; until we stop the continuous massacres on the Muslim countries."

While not unheard of, it is uncommon for any Al Qaeda statement to mention attacking western fleets or attacks on water in general. Plenty of threats discuss planes, bases, and embassies... but rarely targets at sea. That is why the Al Qaeda in Yemen AQIY claim of responsibility for the Christmas airline attack was also interesting.

“We call upon every Muslim protective of his religion and doctrine to remove the polytheists from the Arabian Peninsula and that’s through killing every crusader working in the embassies or other places, and you ought to declare it a full-scale war against every crusader in the [Arabian] Peninsula of Muhammad, Allah’s prayer and peace upon him, on land, on water, and in the air.”

The Osen-Hunter Group's assessment is in direct response to threats made by Al Qaeda against sea targets twice in one week, because as it turns out, Al Qaeda has never made threats against targets at sea twice in one week, ever.

If you have followed the fallout from the underwear bomber, the only clear conclusion is that the Department of Homeland Security, and in particular Secretary Janet Napolitano, got caught with their pants down. They had no plan of action in place to respond to the attempted bombing of the airline, and when the event took place on a slow news day like Christmas, it became the only thing to talk about and a major issue to the American people.

So now everyone is talking about the event, and to make things worse, now we have instant experts on everything from underwear bombs to Al Qaeda in Yemen, and in many cases those "experts" couldn't name the Capitol city of Yemen if they had a gun to their head. In politics, actual expertise is completely irrelevant though, and that is the problem. The STRATCOM fallout from the bomber got out of control quickly, and with no coherent response ready to either a successful terrorist attack or even a failed attack, DHS looks like an agency of fools.

Consider some of the questions. It will be noted that piracy in 2009 peaked in that region, highest level in decades. It will be noted that Al Qaeda is operating not just in Yemen, but Somalia, and Iran will be a constant point of discussion. It will be noted how important oil transport at sea is. The multi-national effort in the Gulf of Aden will be discussed, which will lead to topics such as the Chinese and Russian naval vessels in the region. They may bring up the UN statistics for the human trafficking in the region, stunning numbers of human suffering. Most importantly though, they are going to ask what the Navy is doing there and if the Navy is lucky, they won't ask for some form of tangible results of naval operations...

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Thursday, December 24, 2009

The Global Warming Farce has ended - everywhere but in Copenhagen and in the hearts of dictators like Hugo Chavez.

A record breaking 12-30 inches of snow rest on the Virginia countryside and the Northeast is socked in with a winter blizzard threatening even deeper drift. The moisture is needed but it creates a problem for the annual Christmas Eve ride and package delivery. Hot coco and a cookie always serves to fortify the Old Gentleman.

Al Gore (predicting the imminent end to the white Christmas) may be somewhere SOUTH of the equator this year, celebrating a continually warming climate as he points to the fact that it's warm in Rio in December...

Qing Bin-Lu, a professor of physics and astronomy at Canada's University of Waterloo, is a believer in the value of drawing conclusions from observable data and not from selective data fed into computer models that are based on false assumptions and include "fudge factors." In a peer-reviewed paper published in the prestigious online journal Physics Reports, Lu, who holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Newcastle, reports that CFCs, the compounds once widely used as refrigerants, and cosmic rays, which are energy particles originating in outer space, are mostly to blame for climate change, rather than carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Lu puts the start of the cooling trend at 2002 and writes that "the observed data show that CFCs conspiring with cosmic rays most likely caused both the Antarctic ozone hole and global warming. These findings are totally unexpected and striking, as I was focused on studying the mechanism for the formation of the ozone hole, rather than global warming."

From 1850 to 1950, Lu notes, the recorded CO2 level increased significantly because of the Industrial Revolution; but the global temperature stayed constant or rose only 0.1 degree Celsius.

"Most remarkably, the total amount of CFCs, ozone-depleting molecules that are well-known greenhouse gases ... decreased around 2000," Lu said. "Correspondingly, the global surface temperature has also dropped. In striking contrast, the CO2 level has kept rising since 1850 and now is at its largest growth rate."

Other reputable scientists have also predicted decades of cooling ahead to, er, varying degrees and for varying reasons. Earth's climate is affected by many things and is more complicated than the CRU computer models.

So maybe it will be a sad Christmas for the environmentalists who won't be seeing their dream of global apocalypse due to a warming trend.

However, for the rest of us, I wish you all a very merry Christmas - even if it's colder and wetter than predicted by the bozos in Copenhagen.

Monday, December 21, 2009

The banknote (left) is a Gold Certificate, meaning that when the United States was on the Gold Standard, you could trade in your banknote (in this case a denomination of $20.00) for $20.00 in gold coin. Whatever your take on the gold standard, it had the benefit of assuring value to US Currency. This process of valuing currency came into fruition in 1900 with the passage of the Gold Standard Act. It was ended in 1933 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlawed private ownership of gold in America (with the exception of gold jewelry).

Then we went on the 'Silver Standard', and the government issued Silver Certificates, assuring the bearer that they could exchange their currency for silver specie should they want to haul it around. It had the benefit of assuring value to US Currency.

In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon took the US off the precious metal standard. Today whoever can print the most money rules the world (Republicans, Democrats - leaders of other nations). The US is able to compel foreign countries to produce and subsidize the America with military superiority and control over the monetary printing presses.

We get away with it because the issuer of the international currency must always be the country with the military might to guarantee control over the system. And our military is the best on the planet. America makes the very best war machines. (we don't make much else, but we do make those)

I don't think any president or administration is strong enough to bring the US back to a system of integrity. I don't know where it will all end, but one thing is sure - we are NOT on the Gold Standard of Government. Our printed paper says "trust me". You can take it from there.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

I spent time in Greece and have dealt with their moribund bureaucracy, their rampant socialism, runaway spending, massive labor unions that cover everything from taxi drivers to prostitutes.

Last week Greece earned the first of two sovereign downgrades from ratings agency Fitch over its $436 billion budget deficit. Then Standard & Poor's cut Greece to BBB+ from A- and sternly warned that if the government didn't get serious about controlling its spending, the downgrade wouldn't be its last.

Through the week, investors dumped Greek bonds, and word rose that Greece would need a bailout from the European Union. European leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel loudly said no to that Wednesday, but it didn't help. By Thursday, Greece's problem became Europe's problem, with the euro tumbling to a three-month low against the dollar while U.S. Treasury prices — a traditional safe haven for sovereign investors — soared.

On Friday, S&P announced "a more pronounced and faster economic deterioration than we previously anticipated" for Greece, with a "protracted hard landing" next.

The whole crisis has a perfectly logical basis: Greece's budget deficit is more than four times higher than the European Union's 3% ceiling and stands at 12.7% of GDP. Its gross debt, at 112% of GDP, indicates it has more debt than productive output. And its socialist government has no credible plan to quit spending. Years of embedded socialism — in spending, labor and regulatory practices — are responsible. They've enabled the government to consume the very economy that's supposed to sustain it.

Even supposedly right-of-center parties spent state cash the same way. The last party in power was nominally conservative, but failed to stop expansion of government. It kept hiring, kowtowed to union demands for fear of strikes and did little to change the culture's gimme-gimme mentality.

Bureaucrats were hired like there was no tomorrow. These state employees are union members who can never be fired no matter how nasty, lazy or corrupt. Layers of such people go into ministries as payoffs for political favors.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

The Democratic majority holds sway in the Senate, House of Representatives and Barack Hussein Obama's Administration over the Executive Branch of Government. Will the Healthcare Bill sink them?

Or will it be Cap and Trade - the environmental mandate built on the fiction of Global Warming? For any of you who are following the Copenhagen Conference (where Barack Hussein Obama pledged America would follow lock step with the emerging nations who are more or less exempt from the requirements to halt carbon emissions), the United Nations summit was promoted as a serious effort to mitigate climate change. I was shocked to see the summit co-sponsored by Barack Hussein Obama turn into an attack on capitalism.

America's Response: It pledges taxpayer money!

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe spoke in Copenhagen and their asinine remarks were cheered and applauded by attendees who seemed to think they were in the presence of great men. Does America get the message too?

Hugo Chavez was celebrated as if he were a popularly elected president who has led his country toward greater freedom and prosperity instead of a socialist who rigged his election to be president for life, crushed civil liberties and wrecked his nation's economy. "President Chavez brought the house down," according to newspaper The Australian, when he addressed the U.N. Climate Change Conference on Wednesday. "When he said there was a 'silent and terrible ghost in the room' and that ghost was called capitalism, the applause was deafening." Socialism, Chavez told the fawning audience, is "the way to save the planet" while "the destructive model of capitalism is the eradication of life." And: "Capitalism is the road to hell. ... Let's fight against capitalism and make it obey us."

Bolivia's President Evo Morales, a pal of Chavez, Ahmadinejad and Fidel Castro and the first fully "indigenous" head of state in Bolivia. Morales set the table for Chavez, declaring the real cause of climate change to be "the capitalist system."--"If we want to save the earth," he said, "then we must end that economic model." This man, a socialist who also fixed his election and consolidated his power, proposed an "international climate court of justice to prosecute countries for climate 'crimes.'"

Robert Mugabe, who has beaten, tortured and killed his opponents and has been sanctioned for human-rights abuses, held forth on the anti-capitalist theme. He scolded the "capitalist gods of carbon" who "burp and belch their dangerous emissions," leaving "the lesser mortals of the developing sphere" to "gasp and sink and eventually die." The gasping, sinking and dying who Mugabe is most familiar with are within his own country. Tens of thousands have been killed by the poverty, cholera, famine and outright murder brought on by his socialist policies that ruined a once-thriving economy. (IBD)

The donkeys/asses who currently run the country are trying to run it on the rocks in any direction possible and they are an absurd farce, entertaining America's enemies. The Biggest Ass Award has to be presented to Nobel Laureate, Barack Hussein Obama for his efforts to turn prosperous, happy America into a utopian socialist morass.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Before the women rise up and condemn me for taking a shot at Hillary, I want to say that I have personally decried other "old lizards" such as John Mertha (D-PA), Vice President Joe (Slow Joe) Biden, Robert (Grand Cyclops) Byrd (D-WV), etc. who are men.

Hillary Clinton simply is not an attractive woman, but am I the only one who has seen her drift down hill in both influence, lucidity and appearance since she took up the Secretary of State's mantle? In the photo above, she's putting her foot in her mouth again - this time in Brazil. I wonder if Bill would consider taking over for her? He'd do a better job.

Friday, December 11, 2009

War is hell. General W. T. Sherman said it, and anyone who has experienced it, understands that the statement fits just as well today as it did during the War of Northern Aggression in the Mid 1800's. There are low intensity conflicts going on in the world today that the mainstream media doesn't cover. Some of them involve America. One that comes to mind is the war with narcotics cartels - that turns bloody - inside and outside of US National Borders.

You can't pick up a turd from the clean end. You can't fight a clean war. General Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson summed it up this way: "War means fighting and fighting means killing."

You can't pretend that a turd is really chocolate soft serve ice cream. It's a turd. If you put flowers on it, it's still a turd. If you cover it with carmel sauce, it's still at turd and when you taste it, it will taste like a turd, not like ice cream.

The military provides each man or woman under arms an explanation for their place in the world. The military philosophy agrees with the service member's predilections and culture, allowing them through subjective belief to consider the rules back home the reliable author of objective reality.

That way of thinking gets warriors killed.

Robert Kaplan wrote a very interesting book titled, Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos. In that book, Robert Kaplan argues that the bedrock of sound foreign policy should be "comprehensive pragmatism" rather than "utopian hopes." Kaplan calls for a reestablishment of American realpolitik, one distanced from Judeo-Christian (or private) virtue and closer to a "pagan" (public) one. He aligns himself with America's Founding Fathers, who, he says, believed good government emerged only from a "sly understanding of men's passions."

The reality of war has nothing to do with what people portray on television - not even the best television shows or films capture war. War requires pragmatic solutions to real problems, delivered (often) by a young men barely old enough to shave on the spur of the moment. A thousand Department of Justice Attorneys can take ten years to debate those acts and decide on "the rules". But none of it changes war, or the way we fight. A politically correct war only leads to body bags filled with our own people.

In Kipling'sGrave of the Hundred Head, the method of dealing with snipers who take out officers is explained. At the end of the poem, Kipling explains,

Then a silence came to the river,
A hush fell over the shore,
And Bohs that were brave departed,
And Sniders squibbed no more,
For the Burmans said,
That a Kullah's head
Must be paid for with heads five score.

The sad tragedy is that nobody in the American administration believes that a dead American serviceman/woman is worth one hundred enemy combatants.

When the change their minds, our enemies will fear America and they quite simply won't wish to fight us. As it is now, we show our weakness daily through the Commander-in-Chief's obsequious apologies and his zeal to distance himself from those who he commands. A weak man like Barack Hussein Obama will never cause the fear in enemies' hearts that averts war with us.

It's not easy becoming a Navy SEAL. The screening is intense, the training grueling, the rigor of deployment and re-training for deployment will destroy most family relationships the sailors form. The pay is slim and what is expected and accomplished is done from a sense of patriotism and duty to country, the Navy and fellow operators.

A platoon from Navy SEAL Team 10 were dropped into harm's way to capture Ahmed Hashim Abed, mastermind behind the killing, burning and mutilation of four American contractors working for Blackwater USA in Fallujah, Iraq, in March 2004. Their bodies were then hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River.

Fortunately for Ahmed Hashim, he seems to share the same faith as the US Commander-in-Chief, Barack Hussein Obama - who may not be Muslim by his profession, but seems to be through his actions, by his obvious lack of concern over the Ft. Hood murders by Army Officer and Jihadist Nidal Hasan.

Petty Officer 2nd Class McCabe, 24, of Perrysburg, Ohio, and Petty Officer 1st Class Huertas, 28, of Blue Island , Ill., were arraigned. The third SEAL, Petty Officer 2nd Class Keefe, 25, of Yorktown, Va., will be arraigned at a later date. All are charged with dereliction of duty and making false official statements. McCabe is also officially charged with punching Abed "in the midsection with his fist" while in custody.

I know we live in a politically correct age where it's glossed over by the Chief Executive of the United States when a (brother) Muslim murders over a dozen and wounds a dozen more in an unprovoked killing spree. I understand (not really) the overarching need for Barack Hussein Obama to bow deeply to his Islamic masters. I hear the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Military bow, scrape and whine apologies for America. I see the US administration, consumed with apologetic fervor, officially pronouncing that the architect of 9/11's massacre, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, must be given all the constitutional rights and privileges of the Americans he murdered. Our justice system, we are told, must be an example to the world, as if that will impress jihadists making IEDs in some faraway hideout.

We ask SEALs to do very dirty, extraordinarily dangerous work in secret, without fanfare or bands. None have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for stopping wars or taking out people who would murder thousands. The media and the Navy, under pressure from the White House attacks the SEALs remorselessly for punching a terrorist. I'm sure they brought him back for interrogation. On hindsight, they should have cut his throat, bled him out and left him where they found him.

The mainstream media pines over the future of Tiger Woods, whose career has absolutely no value to our country's future. What happens to Matthew McCabe, Julio Huertas and Jonathan Keefe will matter to the entire special warfare community who is watching. They are taking note and in the future, will remember not to bring the bastards back for interrogation... People are more likely to recognize the names of Tiger's (alleged) bimbos than the names of these three Navy SEALs we sent into battle. They are not household names in a nation consumed with the sexual antics of billionaire athletes.

McCabe, Huertas and Keefe neither need nor deserve to be made examples to impress anybody. If they are court-martialed, the only thing impressed upon foreign terrorists will be U.S. weakness. And that will invite more terrorism as surely as our shameful withdrawal from Somalia after Americans were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu inspires Osama bin Laden.

I am disgusted with the conduct of the United States Navy in this matter, and shamed by the conduct of the Commander-in-Chief. I wish God would find it in his heart to resurrect Ronald Reagan.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

On Day 2 of the Copenhagen climate conference, the United Nations announced that the current decade is the warmest on record.

Yes, it's a LIE!

You know, the same thing that happens when Barack Hussein Obama reads from his teleprompter. Lies are not exactly new to the bloggers on the Internet.

On Tuesday, the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization released a preliminary report that claims the 10-year period from 2000 to 2009 is the warmest since records began in 1850.

Really?

How can serious scientists compare data from record keeping in 1850 to modern record-keeping? The report says the data are culled "from networks of land-based weather and climate stations, ships and buoys, as well as satellites." (IBD)

It might be rude to challenge Barack Hussein Obama (famous quasi Imam, defender of the faith, etc.) - BUT - How many satellites, ships and buoys were used in 1850? How do the land-based weather stations match up? Are they the same set of stations used since 1850, or have stations been added and dropped through the decades? Have there always been enough stations to adequately represent the global temperature? A global map of weather stations shows they are highly concentrated in the U.S. and Europe. Their presence in Asia, Africa and South America is almost nonexistent. How can their readings from only a portion of the globe be indicative of the entire planet? And what about the placement of weather stations? Developed areas create heat islands that register higher temperatures, which aren't relevant to climate or global temperatures. How many stations located in undeveloped areas 150 years ago are now surrounded by growth and are recording distorted temperatures?

A look at temperatures over the last 10,000 years as determined by ice cores, not weather stations, shows that the planet has gone through much warmer eras than it is now experiencing.

Also inconvenient to the U.N.'s report is the scandal at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, one of three climate data analysis centers. E-mails between researchers recently made public reveal: a pattern of manipulation of the data; an effort to crush scientists who dissented from the "consensus" that man is warming the planet; and the possible defrauding of the taxpayers who have funded their research. (IBD)

Sort out the lies from the truth - THEN tell us what is left and allow other scientists to review data so that a realistic debate can be formulated.

I know, I know, Barack Hussein Obama doesn't care about the inconvenient truth. He sincerely wants to drive the America he resents on the rocks. The plain truth is that whatever he signs can be repudiated once he's out of office.

Monday, December 7, 2009

I have a high ceiling in my living room. It lofts up to 24 feet above the slate floor. The price for a "real tree" plus the plastic netting for the tree and the tip you are expected to dole out to the guy who brokers your purchase and carts the tree to the truck came out to about $150.00 three years ago. Two years ago my family rebelled and in my absence, bought a fake tree - that is 8 feet tall and weighs about 200 lbs. I suggested they could have purchased a smaller tree, but they thought the King Kong tree (made in China) was a better choice.

December is my least favorite month. My brother, father and step-mother died in December. Memories of Christmas past are barbed and thorned with sweet memories that simply depress me because those people I love are not coming back. Can't I simply dole out cash and have the month end? In addition I'm a year older this month. Nothing to celebrate once you're over about 25 and I'm twice that.

Back to Christmas trees. Yes I love the smell of a real tree, but I don't like the sap, needles and constant need to keep it watered so that it doesn't dry up and burn up before the Big Day.

No matter how you position the tree in the stand and no matter how articulately you spin the tree so that the "good side" faces the public, if you're a guy, and there is a woman in your life, it won't be enough. I wonder if Jews have the same problem with the placement of the Menorah for Hanukkah (חֲנֻכָּה) Or the black people who celebrate Kwanzaa and have the black version of the Menorah that they use in their celebration of African culture? Do they have placement issues or not. Likely, you simply drop the candle holder on a table and pronounce it "placed". Not so with a real Christmas tree.

The placement issue is solved with the fake tree. It also has lights embedded into it, so it's plug and play. No stringing required.

Of all the holidays, the most placement, perfect is Festivus. There is just a pole. It's easy to store from year to year (my plastic made-in-China tree stores in a box 2.5'x3'x6' and occupies space in the garage that could be occupied by other stuff). Festivus, unlike Christmas, is a holiday where you simply sit in a circle with your loved ones and you tell each other how they have disappointed you in the previous year. Maybe it's not that much unlike Christmas... Festivus is also a time for airing of other grievances and for feats of physical strength. The traditional Festivus meal is spaghetti. Unlike Kwanzaa, it takes place before Christmas on December 23.

If you use a Jewish Menorah, a Black person Menorah, a Festivus Pole, you'll never truly appreciate the bother of traveling to where the trees are, selecting a tree to cut, cutting the tree, hauling it home, setting it up, caring for it during the holidays and disposing of it in a proper way after the holidays - so you have no idea what I'm talking about when I praise the plastic tree.

PS - I wonder what the Chinese factory workers think of all those plastic lighted noble fir trees they make for households?

Friday, December 4, 2009

On the left/above, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta. Below them are Mussolini and Hitler, strutting their stuff. If the leaders of the allied nations who stood against Hitler gave him an ultimatum the way Barack Hussein Obama did last week to the Afghan Rebels, what do you think Hitler would have said, and how would he have acted? I do understand that I am calling for speculation on your part, dear readers.

Take a look at your elected leaders and ask yourself if they are fit to dip and clean an outhouse? You don't have to answer if you don't want to. They (at right) are the "leaders of the free world" - may God have mercy on our souls. I don't know that we deserve mercy because we were stupid enough (as a nation) to elect them. Can you imagine them standing up to Hitler? Can you imagine Barack Hussein Obama in the shoes of Winston Churchill? Can you imagine Joe (Slow Joe) Biden actually making something work?

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Some call him a charlatan. I don't. He firmly established himself as an anti-free market collectivist who had no real world experience and absolutely no leadership experience. Still the people voted for the king of the teleprompter - and he does a fair job at reading other people's words.
Barack Hussein Obama chose Afghanistan as "his war". There were no more Al Qaeda training camps when he arrived in the White House - but there were a lot of irritated Pushtun and a relatively small American footprint. Today he managed to split his party and alienate any other nations which still like us enough to participate in the Afghan Adventure.

In an effort to please everyone, he announced a surge-and-wind-down strategy? (huh?) Does the Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives think this will help them get elected in a mid-term election where conservatives are sharpening their claws? The "we're going to try to stop losing while we sneak out the door" plan is tantamount to surrender. We tell our enemies, in effect, "hold on through the surge because when it's over, so are we." In other words, ENCOURAGING THE ENEMY. I don't know whether Barack Hussein Obama is bright enough to understand this - or maybe he thinks the American public is stupid enough to swallow more of his lies.

Obama spoke longingly of ending the "rancor and cynicism and partisanship that has in recent times poisoned our national discourse." By that, the President meant, "can't we all just see it my way?"

Monday, November 30, 2009

On November 25, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Secretary of Public Security Genaro Garcia Luna officially opened the Center of Intelligence of the Federal Police.

It is located on the campus of the Public Security Secretariat headquarters in the Alvaro Obregon delegation of Mexico City. The building is complete with underground facilities and reportedly energy independent from the rest of the SSP campus. It includes four departments: security, operations, national alerts and strategic installations. The center is directly connected to over 600 state and municipal offices as well as 169 Federal Police (PF) stations throughout the country.

President Calderon boldly stated that this new intelligence center represents a step forward in the PFs ability to battle organized crime across Mexico, but its true security and effectiveness remain questionable. The center has been operating for the last four months, allowing the staff to identify problems and make appropriate changes before the official opening. The center is designed to be interoperable with Colombian and U.S. systems to allow a free flow of information among the three countries. However, the necessary information-sharing agreements reportedly are still in the works. Nobody really believes that that what is managed within the inner sanctum will remain secure from the cartels - and particularly The Federation (the cartel that controls and manages the narcotics trafficking in well over half of Mexico).

In many states within Mexico, the cartels are the de-facto government. A senior member of a very influential cartel told me that roughly one third of the businesses in a state in Mexico operate because of loans made from "the cartel". To the extent that's true, the cartel operates within that particular state in Mexico as a guarantor for loans well in excess of any other single lender. I also am left with the distinct impression that the federal police within that particular state work as the enforcement arm of the cartel. Arrested persons are therefore predominantly comprised of people who were not serving the interests of the cartel.

The new Federal Police Intelligence Center is similar to Special Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF) utilized by the United States government. The centralization of sensitive information on cartel activity in this facility will undoubtedly make it a high-priority target for cartels to penetrate, if they haven’t already.

The Policia Federal Preventivia (Federal Prevention Police) (badge above - right) were instituted to protect against kidnapping. While well managed at the outset, they've been plagued by corruption more recently.

GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS HAVE FAILED and they will continue to fail to feed the needy, no matter who is president or who sits in the legislature. I am not talking about food stamps, which are regularly traded for drugs (going rate is $1 foodstamp for $.30 worth of narcotics on the street). I'm not talking about government subsidies, which have had a checkered past and limited value. I am talking about food and food banks which survive based on the charity of good people. To cite a well used metaphor, the government couldn't pour sand out of boot if the instructions were on the heel. You'd be paying three times the value of a can of beans for the government to hand it out.

I returned a few minutes ago from the local food bank and there was a long line of people waiting for a bag of food each (fresh fruit) and a bag of food each (canned goods). Those people were not standing in line because they had a dark motive for a hand out. They were standing there because they were hungry.

Our family has a practice. When we go to Costco or a warehouse store, we buy a flat or two of canned goods or peanut butter each time. Every month or so we drop that bounty off at the food bank.

Government hand-outs at taxpayer expense provide the excuse or perception that the poor are cared for. In most states, we're tapped by the federal and state government at an obscene level to "care for the poor". What we do is create massive bureaucracies with vast overhead costs so that 90% (or so) of the money is consumed by the government jobs and a trickle goes out the other end to the poor. People feel as though the thousands of dollars they pay annually for the sake of the poor actually go to the poor. People feel as though they've done enough when they look at their check stub (what they earned, minus what they pay in tax) and for a long time I felt the same way.

Sadly, it's not enough. We need to do what we can, when we can, because there is no excuse for hunger in America.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

In the referenced link above, MAINFO quotes Russian Analysts who are predicting a civil war in the United States commencing in early 2010.

Russian Military Analysts are reporting to Prime Minister Putin that US President Barack Obama has issued orders to his Northern Command’s (USNORTHCOM) top leader, US Air Force General Gene Renuart, to “begin immediately” increasing his military forces to 1 million troops by January 30, 2010, in what these reports warn is an expected outbreak of civil war within the United States before the end of winter.

I think we all agree that the United States is in a tight space, made tighter by the irresponsible policies of the Barack Hussein Obama Administration and the US Congress, however the Russians are more hysterical than usual in their predictions of a civil war within the United States by the end of winter 2010.

The people of the United States, albeit foolishly, elected Barack Hussein Obama to be their leader. Buyer's remorse has followed and a number of conservatives have had the chance to say, "I told you so." There is another election in 2010 and people will have the opportunity to make a choice to change the direction of the legislature - or - to keep the Democrats in power, led by such stalwarts as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Never underestimate the stupidity of the general public - so they may remain in office.

Buyer's remorse/voter's remorse rarely translates into a civil war. And if there was public unrest, I don't know which side the military or police would land on. My sense is that they would be loyal to their oaths of office. I don't think that Barack Hussein Obama is entirely comfortable with that, because the oath of office is to the Constitution and not to Dear Leader personally.

However, to suggest civil war is to lack an understanding of the American people - at this stage of the game.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

In the region of California where I live, unemployment rates are over 20%. That's not the speculative rate, taking in those who have been unemployed so long they're off the government's books, the teenagers who have never been employed or the self-employed people who have been driven out of work and don't qualify for unemployment insurance. That's the book rate, which means the real rate is higher.

Many businesses have closed. Very few have opened. Many strip malls are empty with a few stalwarts still trying to grasp at straws. I go to businesses to buy things where I have gone before and they're not there. Sometimes there is a sign. Sometimes no sign at all - they threw in the towel without a whisper. Not even a note.

To hear idiots like Vice President Joe (Slow Joe) Biden speak, 'happy days are here again', but he and his coterie of puffed up, bloated fatcats and Washington insiders must not leave the DC Beltway much. Or, more likely, they simply don't care. Barack Hussein Obama (mmm-mmm-mmm), concerned with himself alone, is even further in the ozone.

Car dealerships that once had a large inventory on the lot, now have half a dozen or a dozen cars floored for customer's inspection as they cope with lack of sales and credit.

I spent the day with friends at their business. I own a piece of that business. These guys are scientists. If you watch the Science Channel on television, you've seen them. They're world class experts at what they do who teach at the California Institute of Technology, one used to be a professor at MIT. They create cool stuff that improves people's lives by advancing the bar technologically. One very small security measure we've completed provides a very inexpensive device that will change the way people are able to secure their homes and property - well it would if we could stay in business. The manufacturers we planned to use have ALL gone out of business - and we could get the work done outside the US but there are export restrictions that extend to manufacturing. Across the board, the little company is going under because of the inability to obtain loans because money is tight. It might go under.

And for every company that fails, people are out of work. Failed companies and the unemployed do not pay taxes. The more the government makes good its promise to tax those evil, rich Americans that make over $250,000 into the poor house, the less likely those evil rich will be motivated to RISK opening businesses and employing people. I mean why bother when Barack Hussein Obama (mmm.mmm.mmm) promises to take what you earn for the sake of social leveling?

One of my best friends has a wife who is a noted computer scientist - and there aren't even any employment ads in AMERICA for her specialty. A number of companies in India have been courting her, but she has no interest in moving to India. I just hired her husband to work for me - he was out of work. He was concerned that maybe, just maybe, they'd have to move to India just to find work. That's the hope and change Dear Leader brought.

Welcome!You're in the ObamaNation!!It's a place of CHANGE that idiots voted for. It's just one big party hereand don't worry about illegal aliens - the Mexicans have gone home because they can't find work either.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Military planners have long used war games to plan for future conflicts. Beginning in the 1950s, defense analysts began to develop computer-based models to predict the outcomes of military battles that incorporated elements of game theory. Such models were often restricted to two opposing forces, and often had a strict win-lose resolution.

Today, defense analysts face situations that are more complex, not only in that conflicts may involve several opposing groups within a region, but also in that military actions are only part of an array of options available in trying to foster stable, peaceful conditions. For example, in the current conflict in Afghanistan, analysts try to estimate how particular actions by their forces—building schools, burning drug crops, or performing massive security sweeps—will affect interactions between the many diverse ethnic groups in the region.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

I have been flying from place to place lately. On one flight I spoke with a flight attendant who hoped fervently that the government would bail the industry out because they are all going broke. He explained to me that since every other major industry was receiving an influx of funds from the US Treasury, he felt that it was only right that the airline industry got its share of the pie. My response went something like this, "so you think that we should borrow more money to subsidize fares?" He hadn't really thought it through. The Obama concept of hope and change meant redistribution of wealth based first on breaking the back of the American economy so that the voters would accept any measure, no matter how absurd, as a solution.

These measures are brought to a vote at night, on weekends, with huge pressure applied to individual legislators where greed and power combine to 'get out the vote'. Trillions of dollars are pledged to government programs following the path of previous failed programs. The voting public is assured that they are "entitled" to the promise of socialism. Obama's legion of czars over nearly every function of government insures that the agenda is pursued aggressively.

And we sink just a little deeper into the morass every single day as Obama's "New face of America" - that smiling plastic shell with the gargoyle's leer behind it - becomes "our face". The Commander-in-Chief of the US Military adds his speech (delivered from the teleprompter) and adds his voice to the shrill American and foreign voices that hate the American military.

Barack Hussein Obama wasn't at the site of the Berlin Wall on November 9th to Celebrate the Fall of the Wall because he does not see things the way we do. He cheers on the Communist Chinese because the Rape of Tibet has no meaning to him. He tearfully apologizes to those who would revel in our destruction and fervently quotes from the Quran. He cautions the media not to "rush to judgment" when a US (Muslim) Army Officer slaughters his own without provocation. He sells the nation into financial bondage at a rate never seen before in the history of the world for the sake of funding "bail outs" as he sits as the de facto CEO of General Motors.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Guest Post by Opus #6:
Here is a nice mop-the-floor moment on CNN. They kept trying to make the point that Lou Dobbs had to go because he gave out his "opinion" too much. When there are other "opinion" people on CNN with WORSE ratings. Ha! I hope their rating reflect their quality. Or lack thereof.
Hat Tip NNN.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Scenario: Your next door neighbors are friends. They are white Americans who converted to Islam some years before and though they dress as traditional Muslims and though the father grows his beard long and proud, they are model citizens.

They are part of the local community and the only thing that seems to separate them from the rest of the neighborhood in any way is their faith. And freedom of religion is a Constitutionally guaranteed activity.

Then one day you wake to find the police and FBI are hauling weapons and explosives from the house.

WILLOW SPRING, North Carolina — In a two-story house with a neat lawn, a lake and fruit trees in the back yard, the Boyd family lived a normal, quiet existence, neighbors say.

Daniel Boyd made a living as a contractor while his wife, Sabrina, stayed home with the family. Their oldest sons, Dylan and Zakariya, worked with their father. Their teenage son and daughter hung out with other kids in the neighborhood, fishing and playing badminton.

But in Johnston County, where people proudly fly the U.S. Flag and pack into churches every Sunday, the Boyds were different. They were devout Muslims and talked openly about their faith. Daniel Boyd wore a beard and long robes; his wife often dressed in long skirts and long-sleeved shirts.

Despite the religious and cultural differences, the Boyd family fit in well in Shadow Lakes subdivision, near the Wake County line, neighbors said. The family went to a Memorial Day picnic in the neighborhood. They took walks along the streets of the quaint community.

“I’ve never heard any gossip about them,” said Susan Bedwell, who lived next door to the Boyds. “If anybody said anything, it was something good.”

This would seem an unlikely place, and an unlikely family, to receive so much attention and scrutiny. But last week, Daniel Boyd, two of his sons and four other men were arrested after a three-year federal investigation. Authorities say the men were at the center of a plot to wage terrorism overseas. The charges brought national attention.

Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said his department played only a small role in the arrests. But the events, he said, bring to light a changing county, one that is becoming more diverse, more populated. “Nothing surprises me anymore,” Bizzell said.

The arrests were surprising — and devastating — to Norm and Susan Bedwell, who have lived in Shadow Lakes for 10 years. They befriended their neighbors when the Boyds moved next door to them five years ago.

“The more I think about it, the more I think something is not right about this story,” Susan Bedwell said. “The pieces do not fit. That’s not who they were.”

The Bedwells said they don’t believe Daniel Boyd and his sons, Dylan and Zakariya, are terrorists. Norm Bedwell used to talk to Daniel Boyd over the fence about religion. They politely respected each other’s differing faiths, Bedwell said.

The Boyds were always willing to help. When the Bedwells’ air conditioner broke, Daniel Boyd sent a friend to fix it. Sabrina Boyd brought chicken soup when one of the Bedwells was sick.

Tylur Gray, 17, built a tree house in the neighborhood last summer with his friends. When Daniel Boyd spotted what they were up to, Gray thought he and his friends were going to get in trouble. But instead, Boyd offered the kids wood and nails for the tree house. “He seemed really nice, actually,” Gray said. “Like someone who could just get along with people.”

The Boyd family had quite a journey before they ended up in Willow Spring. Daniel Boyd, who went to high school in Virginia, and his brother were accused of robbing a bank in Pakistan in the early 1990s. A higher court overturned the sentence, which was to be amputation of an arm and a leg. They moved back to the United States and settled in Massachusetts.

The Triangle’s growth, and need for contractors, brought Daniel Boyd and his family here. The Boyds liked the neighborhood.

There were people who felt the very same way about Major Nidal Hasan - a misunderstood jihadist. Until he murdered them in cold blood. No, I don't know the Boyd family. However the circumstances of his life and his continuing activities as a jihadist are not in keeping with the best interests of the community. -- CALL ME JADED.

(Left) Sabrina Boyd

RALEIGH, NC—Seven individuals have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad, David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division; George E.B. Holding, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina; and Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Division, announced today.

On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned a sealed seven-count indictment against the following defendants:

Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Hysen Sherifi, 24, a native of Kosovo and a U.S. legal permanent resident located in North Carolina
Anes Subasic, 33, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Zakariya Boyd, 20, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Dylan Boyd, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Ziyad Yaghi, 21, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina

All the defendants are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, as well as conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad. In addition, Daniel Boyd, Hysen Sherifi and Zakariya Boyd are each charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Daniel Boyd and Dylan Boyd are also each charged with selling a firearm to a convicted felon. Finally, Daniel Boyd is also charged with receiving a firearm through interstate commerce and two counts of making false statements in a terrorism investigation.

The defendants were arrested at various locations this morning by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. They made their initial appearances today in federal court in Raleigh, N.C. At that time, the indictment was unsealed.

“The indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd is a veteran of terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan who, over the past three years, has conspired with others in this country to recruit and help young men travel overseas in order to kill. Given the weapons allegedly involved in this conspiracy and the seriousness of the charges, the many agents, analysts, and prosecutors who were able to bring about this case and safely remove these defendants from our streets deserve special thanks,” said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division.

“These charges hammer home the point that terrorists and their supporters are not confined to the remote regions of some far away land but can grow and fester right here at home. Terrorists and their supporters are relentless and constant in their efforts to hurt and kill innocent people across the globe. We must be equally relentless and constant in our efforts to stop them,” said U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding.

“The threat that extremists and radicals pose to America and our allies has not dulled or gone away. These arrests today show there are people living among us, in our communities in North Carolina and around the U.S., that are honing their skills to carry out acts of murder and mayhem. Their ultimate goal is to wage war on freedom and democracy. The FBI and our law enforcement partners are doing all we can to stop them from thriving and successfully attacking again,” said Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the Charlotte Division of the FBI. “We will remain vigilant, so must the public. If you see or hear something—act—call your local police department or the FBI. September 11th is not a vague memory for us, nor should it be for anyone.”

“The cooperation between federal, state and local authorities throughout this investigation has been outstanding. It is only with our ongoing law enforcement partnership through the Joint Terrorism Task Force in conjunction with North Carolina’s fusion center, ISAAC, that we are able to ensure public safety from these terrorist threats,” said North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Director Robin P. Pendergraft.

The Conspiracy

According to the indictment, during the period from 1989 through 1992, Daniel Boyd traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan where he received military-style training in terrorist training camps for the purpose of engaging in violent jihad. Following this training, he allegedly fought in Afghanistan.

From roughly November 2006 through at least July 2009, the indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd and the other defendants conspired to provide material support and resources to terrorists, including currency, training, transportation, and personnel. The defendants also conspired to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad during this period. The object of the conspiracy, according to the indictment, was to advance violent jihad, including supporting and participating in terrorist activities abroad and committing acts of murder, kidnapping, or maiming persons abroad.

The indictment alleges that, as part of the conspiracy, the defendants prepared themselves to engage in violent jihad and were willing to die as martyrs. They also allegedly offered training in weapons and financing, and helped arrange overseas travel and contacts so others could wage violent jihadoverseas.

As part of the conspiracy, the indictment further alleges that the defendants raised money to support training efforts, disguised the destination of such monies from the donors, and obtained assault weapons to develop skills with the weapons. Some defendants also allegedly radicalized others to believe that violent jihad was a personal religious obligation.

Recruitment and Travels

Among other acts, the indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd traveled to Gaza in March 2006 and attempted to enter Palestine in order to introduce his son to individuals who also believed that violentjihad was a personal religious obligation. Later, in October 2006, defendant Ziyad Yaghi allegedly departed the United States for Jordan to engage in violent jihad.

In June 2007, Daniel Boyd and several other defendants departed the United States for Israel in an effort to engage in violent jihad, but ultimately returned to the United States after failing in their efforts. According to the indictment, after his return to the United States, Daniel Boyd made false statements twice to federal officials about who he had planned to meet on his trip to Israel.

In February 2008, Daniel Boyd allegedly solicited money to fund the travel of additional individuals overseas to engage in violent jihad and in March 2008, discussed with Anes Subasic preparations to send two individuals abroad for this purpose. He allegedly accepted $500 in cash from defendant Hysen Sherifi to be used to help fund jihad overseas and later showed Sherifi how to operate an AK-47 assault weapon.

In July 2008, Sharifi allegedly departed the United States for Kosovo to engage in violentjihad. According to the indictment, Sharifi later returned to North Carolina in April 2009, for the purpose of soliciting funds and personnel to support the mujihadeen.

Weapons and Training

The indictment also alleges that Daniel Boyd obtained a variety of weapons in furtherance of the conspiracy to murder persons overseas and provide material support to terrorists. These included a Bushmaster M4A3 rifle that Boyd allegedly received illegally via interstate commerce in 2006, as well as an ETA M16 V System C-MAG that he purchased in 2006. In 2007, he allegedly purchased a Ruger mini 14 long gun.

The indictment further alleges that in February 2009, Daniel Boyd and his son, Dylan Boyd, knowingly sold a Beretta 9 mm handgun and ammunition to a convicted felon. In addition, the indictment alleges that in June 2009, Daniel Boyd and his son, Zakariya Boyd, used firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence, specifically conspiracy to murder.

Finally, the indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd and several of the defendants practiced military tactics and the use of weapons on private property in Caswell County, N.C., in June and July 2009.

Each of the defendants faces potential life imprisonment if convicted of conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad. In addition, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists carries a maximum 15-year sentence. The charges of receiving a firearm through interstate commerce and selling a firearm to a convicted felon each carry a maximum 10-year sentence. Making false statements in a terrorism investigation carries a maximum eight-year sentence, while possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence carries a consecutive five-year sentence.

This investigation is being conducted by the Raleigh Joint Terrorism Task Force of the Charlotte Division of the FBI and NCISAAC, the North Carolina Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Barbara D. Kocher and Jason Cowley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and Trial Attorney Jason Kellhofer, of the Counterterrorism Section in the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains mere allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

The government has scant capability to investigate itself. There are examples when it has done well, but usually that is because an outside authority, such as Congress, screams for answers. The FBI's cover up at Ruby Ridge, successfully investigated by the US Postal Investigation Service after the first two FBI OPR investigations were 'compromised internally' is one example.

Expecting the Obama Administration to investigate the rampant misconduct of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) scandal is laughable. ACORN was a conduit for laundered campaign contributions, it was an action arm of the radical left (now in power in Washington) and the "street team" to effect hope and change. That is was populated by a coterie of thugs, pimps, petty narcotics users and traffickers and tax cheats was the absolutely smallest thing. That uncounted millions of dollars vanished or were conveniently redirected is something that Barack Hussein Obama, attorney for ACORN in Chicago does not want to come out. So it's locked as tight as his college transcripts (where he listed his religion as "Muslim").

Since both houses of Congress are led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, respectively, expect no help from that quarter. Federal Law Enforcement, as with the military and the rest of the executive branch of government answers directly to Barack Hussein Obama. He could appoint an investigation czar, but why even bring it up? Better to let it all die down and better to allow the public's attention to be drawn elsewhere. The US voter has a demonstrably short attention span. Most couldn't pick out New York on a US map or Iraq on a map of the world.

The evidence will conveniently be lost or will fade away. Witnesses will be intimidated or rewarded for their silence. ACORN? What problem? Videos of them aiding and abetting the sexual slavery of children? Entrapment! Stolen housing funds? Racist!

Its a good case for having some opposition from at least one house of Congress in any administration. An investigation, fact finding, lifting up rocks and shining a light under them is never bad for the country. If Clinton controlled both houses of Congress there would have been no Whitewater Investigation. No problems with a blue dress (what blue dress?). If Nixon controlled both houses of Congress the Watergate matter would have been crushed as thoroughly as Vince Foster's skull (oh, that was Clinton wasn't it?).

Monday, November 9, 2009

I don't pretend to understand Barack Hussein Obama, America's DEAR LEADER. I don't think it's about being black or white. I know plenty of black people who own businesses and prosper under a free market, so that can't be it. Even Obama's best friend, Oprah Winfrey is a raging capitalist, shoveling in the money from Harpo Productions. Skin color is a red herring on this issue (pun intended).

Capitalism and a free market has been what separated us from the rest of the planet. It assured the most wealth for the most people. It offered a ladder up for people born into poverty if they were willing to climb. Today we have a US Administration that is gleefully tearing that down to replace it with an odious witch's brew of utopian socialism.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

The day after the horrible tragedy occurred at Ft. Hood (and I'm not going to recount the grizzly details here), the BBC headline ran, "Shooting Raises Fears For Muslims In US Army". I found that an interesting perspective and didn't read the article because I was concerned for the safety of my computer if I did (window near). 13 innocent non-Muslims and one non-Muslim unborn child were dead. MAJ Hasan, the Muslim who shot them was alive in the hospital. 14-0 ratio.

There is a disconnect between the mass murder of fourteen innocent people and the immediate hypothetical that the murder would somehow create Muslim victims. Or am I the only one who feels this is a way WEIRD way to view this situation?

This skewed way of thinking is manifest in another bizarre theory that is floated in the mainstream media continually. There are plentiful articles that maintain that Christianity and Judaism are just as violent as Islam. Really? Not from my perspective. If you want to go back to the crusades about a thousand years ago, you might have a point. I'd accept your argument. Today? No.

Barack Hussein Obama, the Black Liberation Theologist with the Islamic name and the Marxist dreams of his father on his mind who is commander-in-chief of the US Military seems to harbor the same concerns, thus apologies that are legion for America's perceived sins to the rest of the world for deeds done wrong.

The United States and much of the world which includes Russia, China, the EU, etc. is in a war with radical Islam and we have been in that war for quite some time. Many soldiers of the United States have been killed by radical Islamists. The photos (left) of Major Nidal Hasan, dressed in Islamic garb, shopping on base illustrate his personal disconnect between the deluded jihadists world he lives/lived in and the insensitivity of his actions. Would this alone be enough for another soldier shopping at the Base Exchange justify somebody ripping off his arm and beating him over the head with it? If I was on the jury, I'd say, "yes".

It's time for American Jews (many of whom are liberal and think Barack Hussein Obama is a fine president) to decide who their enemies are. It's time that we exercise intolerance of jihadists in the ranks of the US Military. If Muslims feel that my sentiments are insensitive, I don't care.

Just My View:

(1) The United States is at war with Islamic elements who practice murder as their stock in trade. Murder becomes their faith.

(2) Muslim people's right to freedom of religion does not extend to military service in the United States when their core beliefs call for murder of United States soldiers/sailors/airmen.

(3) It is not discrimination to deny that service where evidence exists that individuals key religious beliefs are jihadist.

The Lion King is an animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation in 1994. It was released on Broadway as a play and I saw the play in New York three months ago with my daughter, Emilie, who wanted to see it as part of a high school graduation present.

The play takes place in the Pride Lands where a lion rules over ll other animals as king. But all is not well. The King, Mufasa, has a brother, Scar, who would be king. Scar gains the loyalty of the hyenas by claiming that if he becomes king, they'll "never go hungry again". Scar tells the hyenas to kill Mufasa and Simba (the king's son and heir) thus establishing his plan of regicide. The hyenas carry out the orders of Scar and the plan is fulfilled.

The hyenas, who are parasitic scavengers destroy the land and years later when a now mature Simba returns to the Pride Lands, he finds that everything has been destroyed and eaten. The once lush Pride Lands are now desolate.

Disney picked a recurring theme in history to use as the pattern we see played out in The Lion King.

Barack Hussein Obama promised those who would eat the bread of other men that he would give them the spoils if they voted for his vision of "hope and change". As with the situations we've seen in other countries, retold in written and oral history, that state of affairs can not be sustained. As Margaret Thatcher so aptly put it, "the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." The something-for-nothing crowd took the White House and have been working hard to reapportion everything for the sake of what will one day be nothing (Lion King Scenario). The trillion dollar Pelosi health care bill is the latest in a long list of their efforts to do this.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

This is a purely hypothetical question: If Texas seceded from the Union tomorrow, would you move to Texas? Barack Hussein Obama might welcome the exodus of those who are not onboard with his plan to radically change the United States into a utopian socialist nation.

Through the 9/12 march and through to the present, TEXANS seem to have been at the forefront of the patriotic resistance. That is not to diminish those of us from California, land of fruits and nuts, but getting liberal California onboard in any meaningful way seems like a long and rocky path. But Texas, the Lone Star State has always had a tradition of personal freedom - so they don't seem to mesh well with the ObamaNation.

If Texas left the United States - would you prefer to live in Texas or in the ObamaNation? I presume that Texas would retain the US Constitution as the basis for all laws. I'm speculating here, but I think this is where Texas might differ from the US if it became its own nation.

IF Texas was a country, would the tax code (USC Title 26) be 16,845 pages* long?

*The US Government Printing Office (www.gpo.gov), has tax codes you can order. A complete set of Title 26 of the US Code of Federal Regulations, all twenty volumes of it, can be had at the bargain price of $974, shipping included. The full text of Title 26 of the United States Code (the part written by Congress--available for an additional $179).

IF Texas was a country, would the right to keep and bear firearms be a foregone conclusion, not a topic for endless debate.

IF Texas was a country, the capital from Wall Street would flow there like water, away from the wasteful, spendthrift, out-of-control US Government.

Housekeeping

As of January 1, 2017 this blog began to receive anonymous posts. I try not to delete them, but if you want to be taken seriously here, you need to identify yourself, if only by some sort of cryptonym.

Welcome to Virtual Mirage

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the cat. "We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad," asked Alice?

"You must be," said the cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

Good Morning

Virtual Mirage - What's on the other side of the mirror? Ask Alice how deep the rabbit hole really goes.

This blog is an extension of MY JOURNEY because sometimes my journey needs more explanation, and sometimes there is more to be said than can be expressed on one ordinary blog.

Sometimes it's politics (very serious), sometimes I address the human condition with a dose of humor, and other times it may seem as if the track is headed in a unique direction. I can be a complicated guy at times.

There are a few things you'll find I consider:

* Absence of proof is not proof of absence.

* Sometimes the questions are complex but the answers are simple.

* Love is the only condition where the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

* Steers do not sign treaties with meat packers. (think on that)

* Taxes are NEVER levied for the benefit of the taxed.

* The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no victory possible in defense.

WHITE POWDER (Novel)

There is something intoxicating about a secret.

THE OLD WHORE (NOVEL)

In the peculiar culture of the Central Intelligence Agency, "old whores" are people who will do whatever it takes to get the job done, irrespective of the cost.

EXILES FROM EDEN (NOVEL)

Sparks fly as two star-crossed lovers meet. He runs toward trouble as she yearns for something missing. And it ends in a flight from and toward justice.

About Me

Today, I balance work and play as much as anyone can. All things remaining equal, play is more important. Life is short - it's important to make every day count for something, if only to yourself.
I'm a former tinker/tailor/soldier/sailor who has now decided that maybe it really wasn't all done for nothing.